makoy

That's a good one :) I am not even sure why the first one was short-lived.

I am surprised your review did not even mention the rubber, or the disadvantage of the new technic assembly housed in the model which is responsible for the opening and closing of the wings. I'll probably give +1 more point for the price because it is an X-Wing relatively the same size as the previous one, and yet the price is only 2/3 of the old ones. Really a great feat there... almost impossible 'feature' coming from LEGO Star Wars. For that alone, I'll give it a rating of 8 out 10 because the value in this set is incredibly higher than what used to be, even if it is targeted more towards kids. But hey, LEGO has always been a toy aimed at kids anyway. Adults like me should not complain that it became more kid-friendly.

Great milestones. For the record, I have to say that TLG needs to make more angels than demons. Seriously. The company has created more minifigures with horns and tails than halo and/or wings.

I agree with the short comings of the set -- like the ball joint (Part # 22890, Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Tow Ball on End). Since 2016 that part has always been produced in DBG. Why can't we have LBG?? It has been used in about 100 sets and TLG just refuse to produce this in any other colour for whatever reasons the public won't know. You missed out the detail that as far as I know, this is the first TIE Fighter that has green flick missiles on them. The previous ones had red, which is the wrong colour. Yeah. Revolutionary. I know. The new piece for the wing attachment...I don't know if other sets are using that yet. What's the part number for that? Having said that, I really think this is a good set for the price. It is smaller than the Solo TIE Fighter (75211) but it is also considerably cheaper. There is no other TIE Fighter at this price range that can attract more fans in the franchise. It can also be a good "army building" kind of set even though the scale is a bit off. Then again, it looks great for what it is. And for that, this one gets 8 out of 10 on my score.

Great work as always. :)

Nah, just pulling your leg. On a scale of 10, I'll score it a 7 just because this is the cheapest way to get the child. Also with the full beskar armour, I am sure people will still get this set for the duo. I know it should have been better but it is what it is. I don't even know what to say about that weapon side-build. ?‍♂️

Just like in the Technic forums, I see people giving away 2 scores. So I'll do the same here. 1/5 for those who got the previous one. And for those who missed the old one and wants to skip the completionist route and just buy what will be available in the store -- I'll give it a 3/5. btw, @JackJonespaw that bird nest picture is perfect.

Best score. Best review comment. Pretty sums up the review.

Of all the Technic sets lately, this is what I am most interested on... then I saw the price. Okay. Maybe I will wait for a few % discount. The design looks very appropriate ... Looking forward for the playability score as this will be most critical criteria whether it is go or no-go decision for me.

Without the context, I was confused with this score... but after reading the summary below that, it makes sense these the score would be different coming from an enthusiast or diehard Technic fanatic. I clearly belong on the former rather than the latter, and in my opinion it is one of the most sleek and sexy looking Technic set that one could display with the Ferrari badge. Thanks for the review!

I didn't see this question earlier. The list on the first post is likely 3 months - 6 months outdated but the additional items posted here (few posts above) are accurate unless stated otherwise in the subsequent replies. It's fine to post link or post this elsewhere as long as credit is given to the fine folks of Eurobricks. It's not just my effort alone identifying all these.

I feel like they totally abandoned the emoji direction when it could be the easiest thing to do.... I didn't like the Extra DOTS Series 2 prints. I guess Extra DOTS Series 3 is better. The lack of continuity, or dare I say randomness of these prints throw me off a little bit.

https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/175722-bam-exclusive-parts-index/ It's hard to keep track of everything but we're trying it that topic. I still don't have access to the latest BAM elements, but people are posting updates there. The seagull is pretty elusive but I know people had seen them. Not all stores get the same order allocation.

This will begin to make things right (or maybe not -- you have to find out). Here is my 8th RA review ready to take off, 75149: Resistance X-Wing Fighter. Overview Name: 75149: Resistance X-Wing Fighter Theme: Star Wars / The Force Awakens Year: 2016 (2H) Pieces: 739 Minifigures: 3 (+1 astromech droid) Price: USD 79.99 / EUR 89.99 / GBP 84.99 / SGD 179.90 / MYR 449.90 Resources: Brickset and Bricklink Introduction Whenever I tell people that I like Star Wars, it's hard not to blurt out Millenium Falcon or X-Wing because it is almost impossible to not know what an X-Wing is unless you are living under a rock. The shape of the starfighter always gives it away. According to Star Wars databank, the Incom T-70, most commonly known as X-wing, is the latest incarnation of a classic design and the signature combat craft of the Resistance’s Starfighter Corps. It is faster than the Alliance-era T-65s which makes Resistance X-wings manoeuvrable enough to engage TIE fighters in dogfights, but powerful enough to take down capital ships. As for the official dimension, we only know that it's official length in-universe is 12.48m. Now, I shall dispense all pleasantries so that we can scrutinise the box and all its contents. As described in the official set description, Lor San Tekka is being attacked by a Flametrooper. Poe is supposed to help him fight against the bad guy but it looks like Poe Dameron is targeting Lor San Tekka with the flick missile instead. Just look at the missile trajectory. Even the stud shooter won't hit the Flametrooper. Thankfully the back panel of the box shows Poe directly engaging the Flametrooper with his blaster. He also carries a fire extinguisher to put off the fire this Flametrooper started. As with any LEGO sets, the back panel shows off the play features of the set. The side panels show the minifigures included. LEGO does not count astromech droids as minifigures because they are obviously not minifigures but I think Bricklink and Brickset count them as minifigure for the sake of convenience. Therefore, in the official description you'll see that LEGO describes the set having only 3 minifigures but in Bricklink and Brickset you'll see they count astromech droids as minifigure. Most people will remember that this set was released after Poe's X-Wing Fighter with only 10-month lag in between. The build is 99% identical except the price of the Resistance X-Wing is a little bit higher. To justify this, apart from adding a few more bricks, the box size of set 75149 was also made slightly bigger. I refuse to think that the marketing team believes they can convince the buyers it's worth the extra price margin just by changing the size of the box. I think LEGO enthusiasts are way smarter than that. Build Moving on, inside the box, there are 5 numbered bags, and 1 plastic bag without a number that contains an instruction manual and a sticker sheet. As with my every other review, I will not put on stickers on this set. Unboxing content Sticker sheet I won't elaborate the detail of the sticker sheet because you'll see towards the end that you really don't need the stickers on this set because the set looks just as nice without it. Instruction Manual The instruction manual is quite big. It has the same width as A4 size paper and just a couple of centimeters shorter in length. I noticed that the quality of the perfect binding (adhesive binding) used in the manual is far from perfect. Look at the picture below. There are some pages that are quite difficult to unfold completely. You can force unfolding the pages but you risk damaging the bindings. I reviewed the First Order Transport which is an older Star Wars set. Its instruction manual didn't have this issue even though the binding technique used is the same. Maybe I'm just splitting hairs here but that's something I observed. Bag #1 contents Somehow when I took the picture below, I forgot to include the brick separator. As seen in the earlier photo, the brick separator was inside bag #1. It also contains Lor San Tekka and FO Flametrooper. I'll skip the minifigures for now as I will dedicate a section for that later. One of the outputs of the first bag is a small build -- a moisture vapourator with 2 crates. The fire elements suggest that the damage was done by the Flametrooper. As the moisture vapourator is on a hinge, you can also tilt it down like it has already been destroyed due to attack. Here's another angle of the small build. The rest of the bricks went to the build of the inner core of X-Wing frame which includes the inner mechanism that makes the S-foils open and close. Bag #2 contents In the middle of building bag #2, I thought that I was making chopsticks. Apparently it is the exact same technique used in 9493 X-Wing so this is not new. Bag #3 contents After completing bag #3, the cockpit is already fully built. The new cockpit window is a great addition but it is still not fully accurate simply because the side should be angled a bit. Not complaining, just saying. Bag #4 contents Bag #4 adds the left wing. Now it is starting to look like the X-Wing that we are all familiar. The bag also contains BB8 and Poe Dameron with both his white/blue helmet and hairpiece. Bag #5 contents Finally, bag #5 completes the build with the addition of right wing as well as the 4 thrust engines. Below is the cruise mode of Resistance X-Wing with the S-foils closed. Side note: there is a little bit of slack on the lower wings because I did not put two rubber bands on the wings. Cruise mode Below is the Attack mode of Resistance X-Wing with its S-foils open. This is done by twisting the black knob or what LEGO calls "Technic angular wheel" on top. Attack mode Front view The front view is just gorgeous. I purposely removed the flick missiles because it is entirely optional. I think it looks great without it. When you load the flick missiles while swooshing the X-Wing there is a tendency to flick it by accident. Stray missiles will just launch when touched by mistake, so either the kids lose the missiles or hurt someone -- totally not recommended for younger kids. Back view Showing the back of the Resistance X-Wing the blue rubber bands looks quite obvious. Not as bad as 75102 Poe's X-wing Fighter but the blue rubber bands could have been just black to conceal its presence more easily. Side view Bottom view With all the anti-studs underneath, it makes you wonder why even bother attaching the bottom wings upside down. Frankly, no one will enjoy looking at this angle. I've seen modifications to replace the wings so that the studs are on top instead of at the bottom to get a more consistent look when viewed from the top. Going back to the blue rubber bands, when you replace them with black hair rubber bands, it really looks more presentable and less obvious. If you do this minor adjustment, apart from the bottom view, all angles will be camera friendly. Here's the bonus part. Let's talk about scale. I put the microfighter Resistance T-70 next to the system-scale T-70 just for fun. Comparing the in-universe length of T-70 at 12.48m with the length of the system scale T-70 at 37cm, the scale used in this set is 1:34. If you consider that a minifig is 5 feet human, then the scale must be 1:38. In that case, the length of the T-70 should be 33cm only. If you consider that a minifig is 6 feet human, then the scale must be 1:44. In that case, the length of the T-70 should be only 27.7cm only If you consider that 3 studs = 1 meter then the scale must be 1:42 so the length of the T-70 should be only 29.7cm. Either way, the Resistance X-Wing is slightly bigger than it should be. However, I don't mind this because I think the system scale is quite close to minifig scale even with the limitation of the LEGO system. Just look at the chibi version of X-Wing. At 8cm long, the scale works out to be 1:156 and it looks okay albeit totally out of proportion. Parts Surprisingly, the parts used in X-Wing is quite common. Except for the cockpit canopy, the rest are easily available from Bricklink. This makes it easy to make different variants of X-Wing. Here are some of the notable parts: Sand Blue Slope 45 2 x 1 with 2/3 Cutout is not common. It only came out in 4 sets. The Blue hinge plate only came out in 4 sets too. The shovel is very common in City but it does not normally appear in Star Wars. This is the 5th time it appeared in any Star Wars sets. The printed tile 2X2 "No.231" (element 6078936) came out in Sandcrawler first and it's the first time it was reused. That's all. Like I mentioned, there is no spectacular LEGO element in this set. Of course, I need to show spare parts left after building the entire set. Minifigures The line up of minifigures are quite modest in this set with Poe Dameron with a subtle smile and jacket, the ubiquitous BB-8, a slightly happy Lor San Tekka who enjoyed as much as 1:45 minutes screentime in the movie (same duration as Captain Phasma), and a lonesome First Order Flametrooper. Here's the view of the minifigures' back. I am not really sure where is BB-8's back because he is a spheroid. Below is how they look without any accessory and hairpiece/helmet. Surprise! Angry clone trooper face again. Without the hairpiece and helmet, we see the dual face printed. Poe has a serious but slightly worried look while Lor San Tekka has "I am doomed" face. Poe Dameron comes with a different helmet -- the one that he wore in Jakku before being captured by the First Order. Below is the comparison of Poe's helmet against the helmet of Temmin "Snap" Wexley: On the right side of the helmet, Poe's helmet has roæhal written while Temmin's helmet has popsæboo written in Aurebesh. If you know the meaning of these words, do let me know. I can't find any information what's the significance of this Blue Squadron(?) helmet. We know that Poe has a black helmet because he is the Black Squadron leader so perhaps the other helmet is the older version before he eventually became the Black leader? You have to hide. You need to leave. Conclusion I still enjoyed putting together all the pieces needed for Resistance X-Wing even though it is almost a copy of Poe's X-Wing. One may ask why TLG released 2 X-Wings back-to-back. In my opinion, the marketing genius in TLG sees the opportunity to capitalise on diorama builders who wants to build multiple copies of X-Wings. If the LEGO Star Wars team designed only Poe's X-Wing then there will be opportunity cost as there are more blue and grey T-70 X-Wing in The Force Awakens. Making a diorama of many black T-70 X-Wing is not acceptable. Frankly, I like this regular Resistance X-Wing version more than Poe's black X-Wing. Sometimes that moment when you wish you could run and hide is when you find you need a new hyperdrive. I have a bad feeling about this Review summary Playability: 9/10 - It is an X-Wing. It's fun and easy to swoosh around. The small moisture vapourator build allow kids to re-enact the scene in TFA Design / Building Experience: 9/10 - I enjoyed the same old build and techniques used. New owners of X-Wing will enjoy building it. Minifigures: 8/10 - Lor San Tekka is the minifigure-of-interest in this set. Poe's blue squadron helmet is a cool addition. Getting another BB-8 is also welcome. Price / Value for money: 8/10 - I feel that I could have scored this a little higher if the price stayed the same as Poe's black X-Wing Overall: 8.75/10 - This could have been a solid 9 but with a slightly higher price I have to slightly reduce the rating. Apart from that, a great set to play or collect. Thanks for reading. As always, wubba lubba dub dub.

Haha. I'm not the biggest fan of Brickheadz but I really appreciate the use of those cups for Shrek's ears.

I am a little bit distracted by those different coloured Technic pins and axles. Can't they all just be black for uniformity? Other than that, I think this is a really good model for Rubicon.

Haha.. My thoughts exactly. The head and body is decent, and the minifigure selection makes sense.... that wing though.

Nicely done. I like every contraptions added to the legs.

I can confirm that... But I don't have anything hands-on right now. My initial reaction with the brown bear hat is that the notorious jailbait reference mascot will be soon a reality.

There used to be a similar service from LEGO between 2005 to 2012, called LEGO Factory / LEGO Design byME. http://web.archive.org/web/20120121014823/http://designbyme.lego.com/en-GB/news/default.aspx?id=360700 For whatever reasons TLG is claiming, the program failed because they could not keep up with the "quality standards" ... and not about supply or cost overhead. There are many other reasons why such program cannot be sustainable if managed centrally by TLG. If you read the terms of service in Bricklink, the designs and licensing is not as easy to manage as you would expect, as MOCs sold in Bricklink must be vetted and reviewed, and infringing designs will be removed without notice as those could pose legal problems to TLG as well. This is likely the reason why until now there is no equivalent program that replaces LEGO Factory.

Really amazed how the technic connections can hold the whole MOC. Great work!

Photos from the press release are uploaded in EB's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/eurobricks/posts/3329964090386394 https://www.facebook.com/eurobricks/posts/3329948817054588

I don't have a strong feeling about Ghostbusters but I appreciate this model of Ecto-1 I am surprised it is this big and comparable size to the '89 Batmobile. What really reduces the appeal to me is the use of stickers. I know it is moderate, but there are certain elements like the car emblem and the plate that I think should have been printed instead.

Certainly got that Ninjago style. I think the katana would be great utensil for slicing those food ingredients. Great job!

Piano is not my forte. The end. Oh, you're still here. Okay. Let me try again. The statement above is a joke but it is also true. No pun intended. This review is about the Grand Piano set, a LEGO scale model with ornate details inside and out. If you were around back in April, my last review was about the immaculate 1-piece LEGO white baseplate. Today, I am about to review a set with over 3600 pieces. Not much of a difference, really. Now, let's begin with my 32nd RA review, set# 21323 Grand Piano. Overview Name: 21323 - Grand Piano Theme: IDEAS Year: 2020 (2H) Pieces: 3662 Minifigures: 0 Price: USD 349.99 / EUR / GBP 319.99 Introduction I have very fond memories in my childhood wanting to play an upright piano whenever my mom and I visit my aunt's house. In fact, I have a picture of me pretending to play that piano -- it is one of my favourite childhood photo. Sadly, the untapped potential got wasted because I never had any proper training to play a piano, or any musical instrument for that matter. I don't think I could ever read sheet music as that take years of practice too. I only understand music alphabets - those 7 letters A, B, C, D, E, F and G. Regardless, I enjoy music and I am one of those person who could listen from rock music to gospel song, then to jazz, switch to EDM, then back to classical symphonies. I love music and that's why I appreciate this set that celebrates the art of music. With this LEGO set, I could fool you into thinking that I am also an expert musician. I am not kidding. I will be expertly playing Fur Elise like Beethoven himself, towards the end of this review, so keep on reading. Before proceeding, let me thank TLG and Eurobricks for giving me the opportunity to review this remarkable set. All opinion about this set is my own. Front Box Panel The new branding of 18+ looks very premium especially with the gold font used in the grand piano branding. It just exudes class. Side note -- for some reason, the gold and black colour scheme reminds me of a Belgian chocolate brand. Back Box Panel The classiness continues at the back. The back panel shows the dimension of the grand piano, as well as the Powered Up components featured for its auto-play feature. There are minimal text in the packaging so it is not explained how this feature works. More about that later. If you have not bought the set yet, I encourage you to know how the play function works first before making any purchase because it could lead to disappointment if you don't do any homework or research. Now, let's carry on. Carry on, it doesn't even matter... (for the mostly parts) The box is a lift-up type similar to that of the recent Technic sets such as 42115 Lamborghini Sian. While looking premium, the box is so huge that 4 tapes are needed to seal the box. I wonder how long the seals are going to last. What’s inside the box? There is a box within a box. I am not tracking how many such LEGO sets have this kind of packaging -- but when I do see one, it means serious business. Really serious. Below, you can see the contents of the smaller black box laid down. The other half remained inside the bigger box for the time being. There are are so many pieces that I cannot take picture of them all in one go. Instruction Booklet For a set this expensive, I already expected there is no sticker sheet. Indeed, there is no sticker sheet in this set, and I prefer it that way. The instruction book looks very good but I am not keen on using this for building reference. I thought that it would ruin the bindings because the instruction book is too thick and I don’t want to ruin it by flipping it over and over. As you can see from the picture above -- it is 2 bricks tall. I decided that I will be using the LEGO Instructions app for this round. So, looking at my phone, I now have more LEGO games and apps that I could ask for. That’s because in the last 24 hours upon receiving this set, I downloaded 3 more LEGO apps on my phone. I even have The LEGO NINJAGO Movie game on PS4 which my kids and I recently got platinum trophy. These LEGO apps and games just keep on coming. LEGO is everywhere. In the playroom, in the living room, and even in my pocket. Build Starting with the build overview, the screenshot from the instruction app is a very good starting point. From bag 1 until bag 10, the focus is mainly on the frame and body of the piano. From bags 11 to 15, the focus is shifted onto keyboard, while bags 16 and 17 are meant for the fall board, music shelf and desk. Then, bags 18 to 20, are all about the lid only. Finally, bag 21 is meant solely for the chair. Ready for the long read? Adagio. Bag 1 out of 21 The interior of the grand piano is mostly tan. I like this colour and it’s the obvious choice for the frame as the cabinet cavity is mostly made of wood. Dark tan makes sense here as well. Bag #1 progress - cabinet underside and spine The first in-progress picture and it looks odd because I oriented this the wrong way. The tan side should be flat on the ground because it is the bottom of our grand piano. The black flat wall of the piano cabinet is called the spine. While building this, I am curious as to how the ball joints will be used later. More on that soon...ish. Bag 2 out of 21 I was not too familiar with the newer battery unit / smarthub so when I learned I needed 6 AAA batteries, the AA batteries that I prepared were useless. So, I needed to get spares quickly. Bag #2 Progress - Powered Up smarthub, motor and motion sensor I felt that having these electrical components at bag #2 is too early in the build. So much bricks will be added on different directions and it is very likely that these component might be locked inside this build permanently, or until dismantled. Take a good look at the arrangement of these Technic beams. All the colours point in the same direction. Bag 3 out of 21 Bag #3 Progress - Damper wires The dark bluish grey pins are meant to be the damper wire. These damper wires hold the dampers which stop the note once you release the piano keys. Just remember this for now because it is a long way before we even get to the dampers. Bag 4 out of 21 So far, this bag is full of 1x6 tan tiles, and I really like the smoothness of the build so far. Bag #4 Progress - Soundboard At this angle we can confidently say that the studless to studfull ratio is off the charts already. Bag 5 out of 21 At this point, I got confused that I could not see bag #5 from the smaller box that I have unboxed. Then, I realised that it was outside the smaller box, and inside the bigger box. Due to my confusion I almost forgot to take the in-between progress after building bag 5. Bag #5 Progress - tail Bag #5 is essentially the buttocks of the piano. Remember the ball joints earlier? With technic pins connecting the upper parts (soundboard), the job of the ball joints below is to connect the piano tail on its belly. I know it doesn’t sound right but I did not make up the names of the piano anatomy... Just remember that in case you want to take the motor out of the piano’s belly, or perhaps even its motion sensor -- you need to remove the tail cover at the back first and detach the ball joints so you can pull the tail off to have access to the cabinet cavity. Finally, the chubby tail of the piano is completed. Bag 6 out of 21 I am very pleased that there are many tan and dark tan parts in this set up to this point. However, we are mostly done with the interior of the piano, so we will see more black parts from here onwards. Bag #6 Progress - Keybed Part 1 I hope that you are learning the parts of the piano as we go along this building process because surely, I am. This section of the build is part of the keybed. This is literally where the action happens in the piano and where the piano action mechanism is located. Bag 7 out of 21 Bag #7 Progress - Keybed Part 2 Bag 8 out of 21 Bag #8 is essentially the pinblock of the piano where you can find the pins, which are represented by the pearl gold tile 1x1 with open O clip. The pins hold the string securely with the right tension to produce the right frequency for the note. What's not included in the picture are the pearl gold hoses that serves as bass and treble strings. Those are attached to the pins, on top the pinblock, in the subsequent pictures. Bag 9 out of 21 Bag #8 & #9 Progress - pinblock, pins, strings, cheeks and bent side cover At first glance you can see the gap at the bent side part of the piano. At first I was very distracted by it, but as I finished the whole build, I grew used to it.. In case you don't know what are piano cheeks, those are the ends of piano keyboard. It is built with part # 6005 brick, arch 1 x 3 x 2 curved top. At this point, you are instructed to reset the gear by pressing the encircled icon in the Powered Up app. Missing this important step might cause frustration later. The reason is simple - if you don’t reset the gear, the technic beams will be in random position so they would obstruct the keyboard rear end. The gear reset will set the beams in neutral position so you can fully slide the keyboard in. Take my word for it, I learned it the hard way. Bag 10 out of 21 Bag #10 Progress - Legs These legs are chunky, but they look proportional to the chunky grand piano as well. You have to remember, the entire weight of the piano rests on these 3 legs so they need to be strong. Bag 11 out of 21 From bags 11 to 15, it is all about the keyboard. That includes the keyframe, as well as the individual keys, and the action mechanism. Bag #11 Progress - F4 to B4 Provided the middle C in this pretend piano is C4, as it is the widely accepted middle C, then the lowest register in this grand piano build would be C3. That would be the leftmost white key in this build. But let me step back a little bit. I thought initially that the build will start from left to right but it’s not the case. The build starts somewhere in the middle left. If that makes sense. These keys correspond to F4 - B4 range. Just play along for now. The keyframe itself would be the array of plates underneath which hold the keys. Interestingly, the only connection that holds the keyframe and the keys are those conical shaped parts, which is conveniently named “ice cream cone” in Bricklink. Technically, they are not even connected. The key is simply positioned on top of the keyframe, guided by inverted ice cream cone. The gap beneath allows someone to push down the key, and this tilts the key from the top of the dark medium flesh slope like a lever. Bag 12 out of 21 Bag #12 Progress - C4 to E4 + F4 to B4 We have just added 7 more keys. That is 4 white keys and 3 black keys. These 7 keys are added on the left side of bag #11 build. Bag 13 out of 21 Bag #13 Progress - C4 to E4 + F4 to B4 + (middle C) C3 to E3 Bag 14 out of 21 Bag #14 Progress - C4 to E4 + F4 to B4 + (middle C) C3 to E3 + F3 to B3 This is the most repetitive part in the build and it does not help that you need to do different variants of the keys. It is interesting nonetheless because the end result is beautiful. Bag 15 out of 21 The last key (C2) is found in bag #15, which also happens to include the keyslip. This is the part that runs across the front of the piano which protects the keyboard assembly from sliding out. Last look inside the empty keybed. Bag #14 Progress - Complete keyboard, range C4 to C2 For reference, you may compare the keyboard layout to the finished keyboard assembly below. With 15 white keys, this keyboard features 2 octaves and an extra C note at the highest register (rightmost). Attached to the keyframe, the assembly looks like the picture above, just before sliding inside the keybed. Provided you did not skip the crucial step found in Bag #9, sliding the assembly should be easy as pie. With the keyframe fitted in, we now have the keyboard ready for action. Note that the keyslip and the keyboard, are not connected by any studs. They just slide in together. To secure the keyboard, the keyblock is secured using a technic pin that locks the left and right side, underneath the piano cheeks. Since the keyslip is connected to the keyblock, this prevents the keyframe from sliding out, and keeps the keyboard safely intact. Bag 16 out of 21 Bag #16 is the fall board or key cover. The most interesting part for me here is the single inverted tile 2 x 2 with old LEGO logo circa 1934. Bag #16 Progress - Fall board The instruction wants you to slide in the fall board or the key cover while the keys and keyframe assembly are already fitted inside the keybed. However, I find it much easier to remove the keyblock, keyslip and the entire keyboard assembly and just attach the fall board on top just as how it is pictured below. Once the cover is fitted, just slide them back inside, then put back the pin locks underneath again. Now, enjoy the key covers. The cover has a slight friction preventing it from slamming onto your fingers. With the right push, it will stay in position as pictured above. As noted by the fan designer, the fall board is supposed to have a soft close feature. Meaning, it won’t slam on your fingers because closes down gently. Bag 17 out of 21 This bag contain parts for the music shelf and music desk - the one that supports the sheet music as well as your phone if you choose to use it for the auto-play feature. Apart from this, this bag also contains the parts for the dampers. Those are the black convex shaped things that are found on top of the strings. Bags 18, 19 and 20 out of 21 Frankly I am not sure why these parts are broken down into 3 separate bags when these bags are meant for the piano lid only. That includes the main lid, front lid, as well as the hinge which connects at the spine of the piano. The parts are all black. Here they for your viewing pleasure: Bags #18, #19 and #20 Progress - Lid This is the top of the lid. I don’t think you can find a build as straight forward and smooth as this in any LEGO catalogue. The underside is just as interesting, with technic bricks running across the lid that makes the structure rigid. Once attached, the cover does a really good job in holding itself even when fully opened. However, I suggest you don’t do this on purpose because the technic bricks with pins, which connects the hinges on the piano spine, will be stressed so much with the lid’s sheer weight. Now, the moment I am waiting for -- with the lid closed down and the key cover shut, join me in admiring the beauty of the piano case and its sexy body shape. Viewed from the tail, I can appreciate the chubby proportion of the build because it is a toy. If this is a real piano, the rim height is just too high for its body. For what it is, the proportion is very toy-like. Also, can someone please let me know if there is any other set smoother than this? I checked many times. Save the 3 legs which have 4 exposed studs each, I cannot count any exposed stud in this closed-lid grand piano body. There are 2 anti-studs at the spine edge of the lid but they do not count as studs, do they? Bag 21 out of 21 Finally, we came a long way to finally build the last part of the Grand Piano set. The ultra-luxurious looking chair with a lift mechanism. This chair looks more comfortable than the IKEA chair I am sitting on right now. While the piano itself only has 12 exposed studs on its exterior, this time, I could see 2 studs on the chair - one on each side, left and right. I have never been more excited to find exposed studs in a set because it is such a rarity in this build. Viewed from side to side, and top, this set is 14 exposed studs on top only. That is over 99% SNOT perfection. Maybe I am wrong. Let me know, please. Once again, viewed from a different angle, the studs not on top design in this build is topnotch. Overall, those who supported the project in IDEAS will be very pleased. Even though the interior is changed, I don’t mind swapping the strings with rigid hoses -- but I am not sure if there are grand piano with gold strings. Maybe the bass strings could use copper colour instead because those strings are commonly using heavy copper wound strings to generate lower bass notes. As for the treble strings, I think that pearl grey or silver would be more accurate. Not really a big deal as long as the build is sturdy. So, about its sturdiness -- it is strong and well put together even if the case has a hinge at the bent side. I don't fear that it will crumble into pieces at all. Surprisingly, it is very swooshable. It can race with LEGO Speed Champions. Just make sure you race on a smooth surface because a slight bump or level change could nudge or cripple one of its legs. To further support my point on how strong it is, I had no trouble putting the piano on its side or turning it upside down. Enjoy the underside of the piano Let’s talk about play features To begin with, turning the smarthub on feels awkward at first because it opens at the unexpected direction. In my opinion, it would be more natural if opening is on the other side because the green "on" button is further in. So turn the device on, connect the app via bluetooth, select a song (very limited list) and you have yourself an auto-playing piano. I like the novelty idea very much but I don't see myself playing the piano with the Powered Up phone app because I cannot put the app in background to keep it from playing. It is such a big flaw in the app design. That means in order to play the piano songs, you need the app to be running in foreground all the time. You can't do anything else! smh... Playing the keyboard is a good experience. It feels responsive but I can tell that it does not feel like a real piano key at all. For starters, it is very light because it is made of ABS plastic. You don’t need to be a piano expert to know that a real piano key feels substantially heavier. It gets A+ for trying. The GIF above is me, randomly pressing any key to generate the melody of Fur Elise. Just note that the whole key press action is only being processed by a single motion sensor that tracks the red technic beams as illustrated in the instruction below. When you press a key, the full-length of the black technic axle will move, along with the red technic beams, which is then translated as a key press in the app. Therefore, if you press a single key for the entire song, the Powered Up app won’t even know which key you pressed because the information is reduced to an up and down motion only. You may not know it earlier while building but the step shown below is responsible for all the notes you hear on the piano. As I said at the beginning of this review, I will be expertly playing Fur Elise. So, to demo this, I mustered all the courage to record this silly "press any" performance. First part is the app demo, and the the second part is about the performance itself. Enjoy the playlist. I don't think that the oversimplified "play your own" music is an insult to pianists or aspiring musicians. It is a limitation of the tech components included in the set. To be fair, the fan designer himself is a music teacher and piano tuner, while the wife of the LEGO designer who worked on this product is a pianist and piano teacher, too. Insulting or discrediting musicians would be the last thing they will do. Just keep that in mind. Parts While the new parts are not a stand-out in this set, there are exclusive prints and new colour of existing LEGO elements. Take a look at the list below. New part/recolour list: 6322630 (11203pb055) - Tile, Modified 2 x 2 Inverted with Gold 'LEGO' Pattern, exclusive to this set 6322624 (10202pb016) - Playday sheet music 6 x 6 tile, exclusive to this set 6322135 (part 65734 in black) - first appearance in this colour. 6310833 (part 32064a in dark tan) - first appearance in this colour. 6311104 (part 32124 in tan) - first appearance in this colour 6322138 (75c32 in pearl gold) - Hose, Rigid 3mm D. 32L / 25.6cm (first appearance in pearl gold?) 6322139 (75c26 in pearl gold) - Hose, Rigid 3mm D. 26L / 20.8cm (first appearance in pearl gold?) 6173281 (75c16 in pearl gold) - Hose, Rigid 3mm D. 16L / 12.8cm (appeared 3x) 6267914 (75c12 in pearl gold) - Hose, Rigid 3mm D. 12L / 9.6cm (appeared 2x) 11212 in dark tan - appeared in only in set 75317 so far 11211 in dark tan - appeared in only in set 75317 so far 6312473 (part 15068) in medium dark flesh - only appeared in 2 other Mario sets 6294492 (part 9563 in metallic gold) Money / Gold Bar - appeared in 2 other sets only. They look like golden spaghetti strands Conclusion When Donny Chen submitted the original design to LEGO IDEAS, he outlined his main goal in the project. He wanted to capture the mechanical details of a genuine piano, featuring: Removable keyboard with 25 independent working keys, each key connects to its own hammer. Working damper and pedal function. 25 strings. Realistic piano lid which can be open either half stick of full stick. Realistic fall board with a soft close. Removable music stand. Height adjustable piano bench. Self-playing function enabled by adding PowerFunction, which allows keys to play at different tempos and rhythms. Realistic piano wheels. Overall, the final commercial product by the LEGO designer Woon Tze Chee is very close to Donny’s goals, and to some degree exceeded them even if there were some changes made in the interior and exterior design, for better or worse. To highlight a few, these are: The omission of LEGO strings for the treble strings. Likely, looping around strings does not meet LEGO standards so they were replaced by pearl gold hoses instead. The bent side is definitely better in the commercial product despite having a gap, which is necessary to open the door easily. The height adjustable piano bench is actually adjustable. The original design was not. Grand Piano legs design is slightly better because it uses plates and tiles for added detail. No chromed parts. Sadly. On the flipside, there is no paint coat that is going to crack or peel off ever. If you are a music enthusiast or a musician, there are many things to like about the set. The highlights for me are: Great representation of the parts of piano, both exterior and interior. 25 keys, which captures the essence of the piano action mechanism, such as hammer, damper and sustain pedal. Majestic looking set, which is possibly the smoothest set LEGO ever created thanks to the extravagant use of SNOT techniques. Some of the nitpicks I could think of are: The play feature is there, but it is not mandatory to enjoy the set -- majority will display this set only and may not even use the play feature anyway. The strings are not angled inside the piano cabinet, like how a modern grand piano might look like. However, thinking more about the last point, I don't think this LEGO set is trying to be one. I know that the modern grand piano design has 2 bridges, one for the treble and another one for the bass strings. These 2 would cross each other, one on top of the other at an angle, using a wiring method called overstringing or cross-stringing. This has become very common in the modern era as it allows longer strings in a shorter cabinet design. However, grand pianos before the 1800s use a single bridge scale design, without criss-crossing of strings. A simple Google search of Erard grand piano will show that this antique instrument uses an old string wiring method, similar to this LEGO model. As this set alludes to being an antique grand piano design, this is probably the reason why the LEGO designers used the oldest LEGO logo. Finally this leads me to list down some caution before buying (or not buying) the set (soon). The key press does not correspond to the right note or any particular note for that matter. Using the LEGO Powered Up mobile app, pressing any key will play back the correct note in the phone app regardless if you are pressing the correct piano key or not. Some people may find this misleading because one might think it is capable of doing that due to its hefty price. I understand the argument that a cheap electronic toy piano can play correct notes using the right key, so why can't it do the same? Not my own words, but I am just saying that some people might think this way. You cannot play your own song in the app, even if it is all pretend play. The app is also quite restrictive. As one could be building this model to display only, without the intention of ever playing it, the set could have been cheaper if the electronic parts were not included and made as an optional add-on. However, these components were included so you might as well use them for another project. Don't trap them inside the piano if you won't use them for that purpose. There are some reports that this is hard to get because it is in limited availability status at the moment. I am not sure if the stock will normalise after few weeks but keep this in mind. Do check with your local retailer for availability first. The inspiration Review summary Design / Building Experience: 10/10 - I really appreciate the countless SNOT techniques and effort to make the mechanical parts functional depicting that of a real piano. Highly detailed and educational build. My design "complaints" are very minor and easily outweighed by extremely positive results. Playability: 7/10 - In my opinion, this should have been a display model first and foremost, with optional Powered Up add-ons only. The auto-play does not really add much because the app is restricted to very few songs only. You can’t even add your own song even if it is just a pretend play. Some might think that the pretend play is misleading, especially when someone is not familiar with the limitations of the components inside. Minifigures: N/A - Not applicable / not scored Price / Value for money: 8/10 - The price per piece ratio is highly reasonable but the set could have been cheaper if the electronic components were not included. Overall: 8.33/10 - A premium set that is best displayed even if it has very functional parts. It suffers on playability and value but it is a perfect artistic model for music lovers and LEGO fans alike. Full Flickr album could be found here.